Does CH3Cl have a plane of symmetry?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N. · Ernest Z.
Dec 20, 2015

Yes, #"CH"_3"Cl"# has a plane of symmetry.

Explanation:

In fact, it has three planes of symmetry.

The structure of #"CH"_3"Cl"# is

http://www2.lv.psu.edu/

If you draw a vertical plane that includes the #"Cl-C"# bond and the closest #"H"#, you will see that the left hand side and the right hand side are mirror images of each other.

And there are two other vertical planes that include the #"Cl-C"# bond and the other two #"H"# atoms.

If we look at methane (#"CH"_4"#), a very similar molecule, Otterbein gallery allows one to generate the symmetry planes (notated on the site as #sigma_d#, with #d# for "dihedral") that are identical to those found in #"CH"_3"Cl"#:

http://symmetry.otterbein.edu/

Or, as a top-down view:

http://symmetry.otterbein.edu/

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